Zorro zoysiagrass

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to an asexually reproduced variety of perennial  Zoysia matrella.  The inventive variety demonstrates a unique combination of characteristics including white stigmas, purple-brown anthers, good shade tolerance and turf quality, and resistance to hunting billbug, fall armyworm, yellow patch disease, Rhizoctonia blight and zoysiagrass rust disease.

Botanical classification: Zoysia matrella.

Variety denomination: ‘Zorro’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a new and distinct perennial zoysiagrasscultivar identified as ‘Zorro zoysiagrass’, referred to herein as‘Zorro’. ‘Zorro’ is a selection from Zoysia matrella plant #124(unpatented) from a population of 55 experimental clones that wereobtained in an exchange for germplasm with the University of Florida,Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. The inventive variety was tested as DALZ8510 andDALZ9601, has been vegetatively propagated and is uniform in growthexpression.

In field plot tests evaluated over a 17-yr period at Texas A&MUniversity, Dallas, Tex., ‘Zorro’ exhibited superior performance ascompared to other Zoysia genotypes including commercial cultivars‘Meyer’ (unpatented) and ‘Emerald’ (unpatented). ‘Zorro’ demonstratesexcellent turf quality and shade tolerance, moderate drought toleranceand good defensive traits with resistance to hunting billbug, fallarmyworm, yellow patch, Rhizoctonia blight (brown patch) and zoysiagrassrust diseases. The inventive variety is an aggressively spreading Zoysiamatrella (L.) Merr. that is appropriate for use in the southern UnitedStates, particularly in areas that are under either full sun or moderateto heavy shade and employ a mowing height from 1.0 to 5.0 cm. Thus,‘Zorro’ is appropriate for use on sports fields, buffer surrounds forbentgrass greens, tee boxes and fairways on golf courses and residentialand industrial lawns. Further, ‘Zorro’ has sufficient winter hardinessthat is useful in open areas south of the Missouri River valley and theAppalachian Mountain Range.

For purposes of registration under the “International Convention for theProtection of New Varieties of Plants” (generally known by its Frenchacronym as the UPOV Convention) and noting Section 1612 of the Manual ofPlant Examination Procedures, the new variety of zoysiagrass of thepresent invention is named ‘Zorro zoysiagrass’.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct, asexuallyreproduced, variety of perennial zoysiagrass (Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr)between 1 to 3 years of age, so named ‘Zorro zoysiagrass’. The inventivevariety is characterized by good defensive traits against huntingbillbug, fall armyworm, yellow patch, Rhizoctonia blight and zoysiagrassrust diseases among other unique characteristics. These traits aremaintained when propagated asexually.

The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of theinvention together with further objects and advantages will be betterunderstood from the following description when considered in connectionwith the accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference isnow made to the following descriptions taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a color photograph of the leaf blade and ligule of ‘Zorro’;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are color photographs of the inflorescence of ‘Zorro’ intwo different magnifications; and

FIG. 3 is a DNA fingerprint of ‘Zorro’ as compared to zoysiagrassvarieties ‘Emerald’, ‘Meyer’ and ‘Cavalier’.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Characteristics

‘Zorro’ is a unique variety of zoysiagrass that was characterized incultivation under greenhouse and field conditions. The originalselection from plant #124 was vegetatively propagated and expanded inthe greenhouse for field testing. Field testing was initially performedin small turf plots. ‘Zorro’ was identified as a superior genotype and,consequently, was vegetatively propagated by both stolon and rhizomecuttings to provide planting stock for performance studies and formeasuring morphological characteristics. ‘Zorro’ has been propagated bysod, plugs, sprigs, and stolons. Since Zoysia spp. are highlyheterozygous, seed propagation by self-pollination is not commonly usedand is not recommended because segregation results in a loss of geneticuniqueness and in a difference in the expected performance. No seedlingestablishment has been observed from plants of ‘Zorro’ in either thegreenhouse or in field plantings.

‘Zorro’ is distinguished from other varieties of zoysiagrass by acombination of characteristics, including turf quality, shade tolerance,and resistance to hunting billbug, fall armyworm, yellow patch,Rhizoctonia blight and zoysiagrass rust disease. ‘Zorro’ is closest inphenotypic appearance to the zoysiagrass variety ‘Emerald’. It has anintermediate to rapid growth rate, and an intermediate water userequirement. ‘Zorro’ produces little thatch at an optimum mowing heightof 1 to 5 cm. Further, planting 7.5 cm×10 cm plugs of ‘Zorro’ on 30.5 cmcenters or by sprigging provides coverage of a planting area in 10-12months.

‘Zorro’ produces both rhizome and stolon growth. The stolons have a meaninternode length of 27.0 mm between the fourth and fifth nodes, with amean internode diameter of 1.25 mm and a node diameter of 1.76 mm(Tables 1) (Reinert et al., 2002a). Also, stolons of ‘Zorro’ rootadventitiously at each node. The internode stolon color for ‘Zorro’under full sun is 5GY 7/4.

Color notations of plant tissues were based on the Munsell Color Chartsfor Plant Tissues, Munsell Color, Baltimore, Md., 1977. One of ordinaryskill in the art is aware that color notations are affected by lightquality, photoperiod and general growth of the plants. Measured infull-sun under field conditions in August 2000, the genetic, adaxialleaf color of ‘Zorro’ is 2.5 G 5/2 as compared to ‘El Toro’, which has aleaf color of 2.5G 4/2 to 2.5 G 5/2, and ‘Meyer’, which has a leaf colorof 2.5 G 4/2, under these conditions.

Leaf blades are rolled in the bud, and are flat and stiff. The leafblade length is 10.9 mm, which is shorter than ‘Meyer’ (unpatented) andabout the same length as ‘El Toro’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845), and thewidth is 1.35 mm, which is significantly narrower than either ‘Meyer’ or‘El Toro’ (Table 2). Sparse hairs (trichomes) are present on both theabaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces. The ligule is a row of silky hairsthat are characterized by a maximum length of approximately 3 mm.

‘Zorro’ has a mean flag leaf length of 2.3 mm (as measured undergreenhouse conditions, October 2000, Dallas, Tex.). Anthers arepurplish-brown, 10 R 5/6, with anthocyanin pigment and stigmas are whiteand undistinguishable in shade of color (Munsell, 1977). ‘Zorro’ has amean culm length of 26 mm, an inflorescence length of 15.3 mm and a meanof 15 florets per raceme.

The somatic chromosome number of ‘Zorro’ is 40.

‘Zorro’ exhibits good shade tolerance as compared to the 24 otherzoysiagrasses evaluated in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program,National Zoysiagrass Test-1991 (NTEP-1991). The 25 zoysiagrass varietieswere planted and evaluated in a shaded site (ca. 90%) under live-oaks(Quercus virginiana) in Dallas, Tex. in September, 1992 (Yamamoto andEngelke, 1996). Turf performance characteristics, including turfquality, turf cover, green cover, color, density and texture werevisually evaluated. Turf cover was evaluated as a percentage of plotarea covered with turf, and the Turf Performance Index (TPI) was used toevaluate overall turf quality. The TPI is based on the number of timesan entry occurred in the top statistical group.

In general, the entries took nearly 9 months to spread and cover atleast 50% of the plot area. Thereafter, ‘Diamond’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No.10,636) and ‘Zorro’ increased turf cover to 93.9 and 83.7%, respectively(Table 3). ‘Zorro’ ranked fourth behind ‘Diamond’ among the 25 entries,thereby indicating the relatively superior shade tolerance exhibited by‘Zorro’.

Considerable differences in morphological appearance are observed amongthe zoysiagrasses because, in part, the species classification appearsto transcend the textural classes identified by other researchers.Although the appropriate species classification for many of thezoysiagrasses appears under question, White et al. (1993) grouped thegrasses into four textural classes based on leaf length and width: (1)short narrow, (2) short wide, (3) long narrow, and (4) long wide leaftypes.

Z. matrella is generally considered to have a rather narrow leaf bladeand, thus, includes plants in classes 1 and 3, whereas, Z. japonica hasconsiderably broader leaves and includes plants in classes 2 and 4. Theleaf width of a zoysiagrass has also been correlated with water useefficiency. Wide leaf types generally require less water than narrowleaf types, regardless of the length, yet considerable geneticvariability occurs. ‘Zorro’ is a textural class 3 having long narrowleaves, and it has moderate water use requirements, as determined by theLinear Gradient Irrigation System at Dallas, Tex. (Table 4). Over a 3-yrperiod, ‘Zorro’ required an average 390 mm of supplemental water. Forcomparison, ‘Emerald’ required an average of 437 mm of supplementalwater. In the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, NationalZoysiagrass Test-1996 (NTEP-1996) trial at Columbia, Mo. in 1998,‘Zorro’ and ‘Emerald’ both had moderate drought tolerance ratings of 4.7(Table 5) (Morris, 1998).

In the NTEP-1996 trials, which were evaluated over 4 years (1997-2000),‘Zorro’ and ‘Emerald’ (each given quality ratings of 6.4) topped thelist of 19 cultivars that were evaluated at 17 different geographiclocations in 15 states of the United States ‘Zorro’ ranked first forthree years, tying with ‘El Toro’ in 1997 and second to ‘Emerald’ in1998. However, the inventive variety was ranked higher than either ‘ElToro’ or ‘Emerald’ the last two years of testing (Table 6) (Morris,1997; Morris, 1998; Morris, 1999; Morris, 2000; and Morris, 2001).

Resistance

‘Zorro’ exhibited resistance to the hunting billbug (Sphenophorusvenatut vestitus (Chittenden)) in a cage study with eight otherzoysiagrasses at Dallas, Tex. (Table 7) (Reinert et al., 2002b).Compared to ‘Meyer’ and ‘Palisades’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515) whichexhibited 44.4 and 45.5% leaf-firing damage of the plant canopy,respectively, ‘Zorro’ expressed only 9.8% leaf-firing damage. Evaluationof whole plant growth potential (dry weight) indicated that theinventive variety sustained a 35.7% reduction compared to a 70.2, 73.9and 73.9% reduction for ‘El Toro’, ‘Meyer’ and ‘Palisades’,respectively, thereby indicating that ‘Zorro’ sustained less damage and,therefore, expressed greater tolerance to the pest.

‘Zorro’ exhibited antibiosis (high mortality, slowed growth, and reducedfeeding) in lab experiments, thereby indicating resistance to fallarmyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda J. E. Smith) (Table 8). About 75.0% ofthe larvae feeding on ‘Zorro’ were dead before pupation and about 79.2%died before adult emergence. By comparison, ‘Diamond’ and DALZ8516produced 16.7% mortality before adult emergence (Reinert and Engelke,2002). Larvae required a significantly longer development period beforepupation (5 days) or emergence of the adults (8 days) on ‘Zorro’ ascompared to susceptible cultivars.

In the NTEP-1996 test evaluated at Riverside, Calif. in 1999, ‘Zorro’and ‘Emerald’, which is a commercial standard, each were rated 9 (on ascale of 1-9 in which 9 indicates no disease) with respect to yellowpatch disease, thereby indicating that each are resistant to yellowpatch disease (Table 9) (Morris, 1999). Yellow patch disease is causedby the fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia cerealis Van der Hoever. Anothercommercial standard, ‘Meyer’, was rated 8, but several of the othercultivars in the NTEP-1996 test were susceptible and expressed severesymptoms to yellow patch disease, including ‘Korean Common’ (unpatented)(rated 6.7), ‘Miyako’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,187) (rated 6.7), ‘Z-18’(unpatented) (rated 6.0) and ‘J-14’ (unpatented) (rated 5.7).

‘Zorro’, ‘Emerald’ and ‘Zeon’ are resistant to Rhizoctonia blight (brownpatch), which is caused by the fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani Kühn.Each was rated a 9, using the same scale of 1-9 as described for theyellow patch disease, and showed no symptoms in the NTEP-1996 testevaluation in Griffin, Ga. in 2000 (Table 10) (Morris, 2000). ‘Meyer’also demonstrated resistance with a rating of 8, but five othercultivars rated 6.3 or below, including ‘Zenith’ which was given arating of 5.0. The resistance in ‘Zorro’ is supported by an in vitroevaluation of 22 zoysiagrass genotypes in Dallas, Tex. in 2001 (Table11) (Colbaugh and Engelke, 2002). ‘Zorro’ was rated 0.23 on a scale of0-3, in which 0 indicates no disease. In contrast, ‘Meyer’ and‘Palisades’ were rated 1.98 and 2.22, respectively, and expressedsignificant symptoms of disease.

All of the vegetatively propagated cultivars evaluated in the NTEP-1996trial at Virginia Beach, Va. in 1997, including ‘Zorro’, displayedresistance (rating of 9) to zoysiagrass rust, which is caused byPuccinia zoysiae Diet. (Table 12) (Morris, 1997). The ratings followedthe scale of 1-9, in which a rating of 9 indicates no disease. However,the seeded varieties, as a group, were not resistant and many of themscored quite low. ‘Chinese Common’ (rated 1.7), ‘Zen-500’ (rated 2.0)and ‘Zenith’ (rated 3.0) rated the lowest with the most rust diseasesymptoms.

Methodology in AFLP for Fingerprint Analysis

Traditionally morphological markers such as plant height, flower color,leaf length, shape and the like were used to identify cultivars.However, many cultivars have similar morphology and are difficult todifferentiate. Alternatively, molecular markers have been used widelyand successfully for genotyping varieties and species. AmplifiedFragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) is one such highly informativemarker assay to generate fingerprints of simple and complex species andcultivars.

AFLP was used to generate fingerprints of ‘Zorro’, ‘Emerald’, ‘Meyer’and ‘Cavalier’. The resulting gel analysis is shown in FIG. 3. Of thesixty primer combinations used, the primer combinations P-ACC/M-CCG,P-ACC/M-CGG, P-ACC/M-CGT, P-AGA/M-CCA and P-AGA/M-CCA produced bandsunique to ‘Zorro’, which aid in identification as compared to the othergenotypes.

TABLE 1 Rhizome internode length as measured between the fourth andfifth nodes, internode diameter of the fourth internode, and nodediameter of the fourth node of nine Zoysia cultivars. Plants grown insand beds in the field under irrigation during the summer from June toSeptember 2000, Dallas, TX. Internode Internode Node length diameterdiameter Cultivar (mm) (mm) (mm) El Toro 43.6 a¹ 1.71 a 2.63 a Palisades40.0 ab 1.55 ab 2.48 a De Anza 34.5 bc 1.39 bc 1.93 cd Crowne 31.7 cd1.56 ab 2.36 ab Cavalier 28.8 cd 1.38 bc 1.88 cd Zorro 27.0 cd 1.25 c1.76 de Meyer 26.5 cde 1.54 ab 2.16 bc Royal 23.6 de 1.21 c 1.53 eDiamond 18.4 e 1.19 c 1.56 e LSD  8.1 0.22 0.31 ¹Mean in a columnfollowed by the same letter(s) are not significantly different byFisher's protected LSD (P = 0.01). Data taken from Reinert et al.,2002a.

TABLE 2 Leaf blade width and length measured on the third youngest leafof nine Zoysia cultivars. Plants were grown in sand beds in the fieldunder irrigation during the summer from June to September 2000, Dallas,TX. Blade width Blade length Cultivar (mm) (mm) El Toro 3.51 ab¹ 10.8abc Palisades 3.16 b  8.5 bcd De Anza 1.73 c  6.7 de Crowne 3.46 ab 11.1ab Cavalier 1.58 c 10.0 abc Zorro 1.35 cd 10.9 ab Meyer 3.54 a 12.2 aRoyal 1.36 cd  8.2 cd Diamond 1.09 d  4.4 e LSD 0.39  2.7 ¹Mean in acolumn followed by the same letter(s) are not significantly different byFisher's protected LSD (P = 0.01). Data taken from Reinert et al.,2002a.

TABLE 3 Turf performance index and percent cover for the NationalTurfgrass Evaluation Program; National Zoysiagrass Test-1991 plantedunder 90% shade at Dallas, TX (1992-1995). Entry TPI¹ % Plot Cover RankDiamond 46 93.9 1 DALZ8516 46 93.9 1 DALZ8508 42 85.7 3 Zorro ² 41 83.74 Crowne 40 81.6 5 Royal 40 81.6 5 ‘Emerald 40 81.6 5 TC2033 40 81.6 5Palisades 38 77.6 9 Cavalier 36 73.5 10 El Toro 32 65.0 11 DALZ8701 2959.1 12 CD2013 25 51.0 13 TGS-W10³ 25 51.0 13 DALZ8501 24 49.0 15Sunburst 23 46.9 16 TC5018 22 44.9 17 ITR90-3 19 38.8 18 K. Common³ 1734.7 19 Belair 16 32.6 21 Meyer 16 32.6 21 TGS-B10³ 16 32.6 21 QT2047 1530.6 23 JZ-1#A89³ 13 26.5 24 CD259-13 11 22.4 25 QT2004 10 20.4 26 ¹TPI= Performance Index is the frequency of occurrence in the topstatistical group or when a variety is not statistically different fromthe top performing variety. Maximum number of observations = 49. ²Evaluated as DALZ8510. ³Seeded entry. Data taken from Yamamoto andEngelke, 1996.

TABLE 4 Supplemental irrigation water requirement for commercial andexperimental zoysiagrasses during July 1989 through August 1991 on aLinear Gradient Irrigation System at Dallas, TX (1989-1991). TexturalIrrigation requirement (mm) Cultivar Class 1989 1990 1991 Mean Diamond 1461 435 567 488 DALZ8501 1 449 544 429 474 FC13521 3 482 448 443 457DALZ8517 3 475 402 487 455 Emerald 3 464 343 503 437 DALZ8506 3 458 379455 431 DALZ8515 3 469 419 394 427 DALZ8508 2 447 379 398 408 Zorro³ 3449 310 413 390 Cashmere 1 435 424 311 390 Cavalier 3 464 175 441 360DALZ8504 2 478 363 138 326 DALZ8503 2 441 280 193 305 DALZ8511 2 451 353200 304 DALZ8516 2 462 377 25 288 Meyer 2 450 321 74 276 Korean Common 4470 174 88 244 El Toro 4 417 21 6 148 Palisades 4 358 26 12 132 Crowne 4256 12 12 93 MSD¹ 129 169 242 155 Rainfall² 1092 1118 1143 1118 ¹MSD,minimum significant difference for comparison of means within columnsbased on the Waller-Duncan k-ratio t-test (k = 100) (P = 0.05). ² Totalannual precipitation. ³ Tested as DALZ8510 in this experiment. Data fromWhite et al., 1993.

TABLE 5 Drought tolerance (wilting) ratings of zoysiagrass cultivarsfrom the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, National ZoysiagrassTest-1996, Columbia, MO (1998). Drought tolerance (wilting) ratings,1-9; 9 = no wilting Cultivar Rating¹ El Toro 7.3 Jamur 6.3 Miyako 6.0Zorro 4.7 Emerald 4.7 Meyer 4.3 Zeon 4.3 Chinese Common 4.0 J-14 3.7J-36 3.7 J-37 3.7 Victoria 3.7 Zen-500 3.7 De Anza 3.3 Zen-400 3.3Zenith 3.3 Korean Common 2.3 HT-210 2.0 Z-18 2.0 LSD Value ² 1.8 C.V.(%) ³ 28.6 ¹Irrigation practice was to prevent stress. ²To determinestatistical differences among entries subtract one entry's mean fromanother entry's mean. Statistical differences occur when this value islarger than the corresponding LSD value (P = 0.05). ³C.V. (Coefficientof Variation) indicates the percent variation of the mean in eachcolumn. Data taken from Morris, 1998.

TABLE 6 Mean turfgrass quality ratings of zoysiagrass cultivars grown inthe National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, National ZoysiagrassTest-1996 at 16 locations in the United States (1997p14 2000). Turfgrassquality ratings 1-9; 9 = ideal turf Overall Overall Overall Overall meanmean mean mean 4-yr Cultivar 1997 1998 1999 2000 mean Zorro 5.8 6.5 6.86.8 6.4 Emerald 5.6 6.8 6.7 6.7 6.4 Zeon 5.5 6.5 6.6 6.5 6.2 El Toro 5.86.4 6.1 6.1 6.1 Jamur 5.6 6.1 6.0 6.0 6.0 Victoria 5.1 6.1 5.9 5.6 5.6J-14 5.5 5.7 5.6 5.4 5.6 De Anza 5.4 5.9 5.7 5.5 5.5 Zen-400 5.5 5.6 5.35.4 5.5 J-37 5.7 5.6 5.3 5.3 5.5 Meyer 5.0 5.6 5.5 5.6 5.4 Miyako 5.35.4 5.5 5.3 5.4 Zenith 5.5 5.4 5.1 5.2 5.3 J-36 5.4 5.4 5.3 5.2 5.3Zen-500 5.2 5.3 5.2 5.1 5.2 HT-210 5.3 5.7 5.3 4.9 5.1 Chinese Com. 5.45.2 4.9 4.9 5.1 Korean Com. 3.2 4.4 4.6 4.6 4.2 Z-18 3.8 3.7 4.5 4.2 4.0LSD Value¹ 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.2 C.V. (%)² 16.6 9.7 9.8 11.4 19.8 ¹Todetermine statistical differences among entries subtract one entry'smean from another entry's mean. Statistical differences occur when thisvalue is larger than the corresponding LSD value (P = 0.05). ²C.V.(Coefficient of Variation) indicates the percent variation of the meanin each column. Data taken from Morris, 1997; Morris, 1998; Morris,1999; Morris, 2000; and Morris, 2001.

TABLE 7 Resistance among zoysiagrass cultivars to larval feeding by thehunting billbug, Dallas, TX (June-September 2000). Plant response Plantcanopy Total plant damage % mass % Cultivar Species¹ leaf-firing²reduction³ Diamond Zm  6.08 a⁴ 26.29 a Zorro Zm  9.76 ab 35.72 abCavalier Zm 27.58 bc 48.89 bc Royal Zm 20.95 abc 53.46 cd Crowne Zj40.55 cd 65.42 de De Anza Zj 21.90 abc 68.64 de El Toro Zj 24.93 abc70.24 e Meyer Z 44.38 d 73.90 e Palisades Zj 45.49 d 76.10 e ¹Zm =Zoysia matrella; Zj = Z. japonica. ²Leaf-firing was considered as anabove ground symptom expression of the root feeding damage by billbuglarvae. Plants were ranked on a scale of 1-9, 1 = severe leaf firing, 9= no leaf firing. The % damage = [(check − treatment)/check] × 100. ³%reduction for cultivar = [(amount in check) − (amount intreatment)/check] × 100. ⁴ Means in a column not followed by the sameletter are significantly different by LSD test (P < 0.05). Data fromReinert et al., 2002b.

TABLE 8 Resistance among Zoysia genotypes (mortality of life stages,weight of larvae and days to pupation and adult emergence) of 4-day-oldlarvae of fall armyworm fed in a laboratory no-choice study, Dallas, TX(2001). Growth responses of fall armyworm larvae 12-day Pupa Adult12-day Days Days mortal- mortal- mortal- larvae wt to pupa- to Cultivarity % ity % ity % (mg) tion adult Zorro 75.00 a 75.00 a 79.17 a  43.35 a23.33 b 35.00 b Cavalier 54.17 a 58.33 a 58.33 a  38.45 a 25.40 a 36.00a Diamond 16.67 b 16.67 b 16.67 b 180.15 b 17.80 c 28.50 c DALZ8516 8.33 b  8.33 b 16.67 b 325.07 c 15.50 d 25.90 d ¹Mean % larvaemortality at days after egg hatch, % mortality at pupation and %mortality at adult emergence (larvae 4-days old when put on grass).²Mean weight of surviving larvae at 12 days after egg hatch (8 daysfeeding) on each genotype. ³Mean number of days from egg hatch topupation and adult emergence for larvae on genotypes. ⁴Analysis was madeon arcsine transformation of the percent mortality: Percent mortality ispresented. ⁵Means in a column not followed by the same letter aresignificantly different by LSD test (P < 0.05). Data taken from Reinertand Engelke, 2002.

TABLE 9 Yellow patch¹ ratings of zoysiagrass cultivars from the NationalTurfgrass Evaluation Program, National Zoysiagrass Test-1996 test atRiverside, CA (1999). Yellow Patch ratings 1-9; 9 = no disease. CultivarRating Zorro 9.0 Emerald 9.0 Victoria 9.0 Zen-500 9.0 Zeon 9.0 HT-2108.7 De Anza 8.3 Jamur 8.0 Meyer 8.0 Zenith 8.0 El Toro 7.7 Zen-400 7.7Chinese Common 7.3 J-37 7.0 Korean Common 6.7 Miyako 6.7 Z-18 6.0 J-145.7 LSD Value ² 1.5 C.V. (%)³ 11.6 ¹Yellow patch disease is caused bythe fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia cerealis. ²To determine statisticaldifferences among entries, subtract one entry's mean from anotherentry's mean. Statistical differences occur when this value is largerthan the corresponding LSD value (P = 0.05). ³C.V. (Coefficient ofVariation) indicates the percent variation of the mean in each column.Data taken from Morris, 1999.

TABLE 10 Rhizoctonia blight disease¹ ratings of zoysiagrass cultivarsfrom the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, National ZoysiagrassTest-1996 test at Griffin, GA (2000). Rhizoctonia blight ratings 1-9; 9= no disease. Cultivar Rating Zorro 9.0 Emerald 9.0 El Toro 8.7 Jamur8.0 Zeon 9.0 Miyako 8.0 De Anza 7.3 J-14 6.0 Korean Common 7.7 ChineseCommon 7.0 J-37 7.3 Zen-400 7.7 Z-18 6.3 Victoria 7.7 Meyer 8.0 Zen-5005.3 J-36 8.0 Zenith 5.0 HT-210 5.7 LSD Value ² 2.0 C.V. (%)³ 17.0¹Rhizoctonia blight disease is caused by the fungal pathogen Rhizoctoniasolani. ²To determine statistical differences among entries, subtractone entry's mean from another entry's mean. Statistical differencesoccur when this value is larger than the corresponding LSD value (P =0.05). ³C.V. (Coefficient of Variation) indicates the percent variationof the mean in each column. Data taken from Morris, 2000.

TABLE 11 Rhizoctonia blight disease¹ resistance in an in vitroevaluation of 22 zoysiagrass genotypes, including the 19 cultivars fromthe National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, National ZoysiagrassTest-1996, Dallas, TX (2001). Blight ratings: 0-3; 0 = no disease, 3 =heavy disease or death. Cultivar Rating Zorro 0.23 i² Zen-400 0.67 hiZeon 0.71 g-i Cavalier 0.73 f-i Emerald 0.78 f-i J-14 0.84 e-i Crowne1.00 d-h Chinese Common 1.04 d-h J-36 1.16 d-h Victoria 1.22 d-h HT-2101.23 d-h Zen-500 1.24 c-h De Anza 1.36 b-g Zenith 1.36 b-g Jamur 1.42b-g Z-18 1.43 b-f J-37 1.44 b-e El Toro 1.58 a-d Korean Common 1.58 a-dMiyako 1.93 a-c Meyer 1.98 ab Palisades 2.22 a ¹Rhizoctonia blightdisease is caused by the fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia solani. ²Meansfollowed by the same letter are not significantly different byWaller-Duncan k-ratio t test (k = 100) (P = 0.05). Data taken fromColbaugh and Engelke, 2002.

TABLE 12 Zoysiagrass rust ratings¹ of zoysiagrass cultivars from theNational Turfgrass Evaluation Program, National Zoysiagrass Test-1996 atVirginia Beach, VA (1997). Zoysiagrass rust ratings 1-9; 9 = no disease.Variety Rating ³ Zorro 9.0 De Anza 9.0 El Toro 9.0 Emerald 9.0 HT-2109.0 Jamur 9.0 Korean Common 9.0 Meyer 9.0 Miyako 9.0 Victoria 9.0 Zeon9.0 Z-18 8.7 J-14 8.0 Zen-400 4.7 J-36 4.3 J-37 4.0 Zenith 3.0 Zen-5002.0 Chinese Common 1.7 LSD Value ² 0.7 CV (%)³ 5.9 ¹Zoysiagrass rust iscaused by Puccinia zoysiae. ²To determine statistical differences amongentries, subtract one entry's mean from another entry's mean.Statistical differences occur when this value is larger than thecorresponding LSD value (P = 0.05). ³C.V. (Coefficient of Variation)indicates the percent variation of mean in each column. Data taken fromMorris, 1997.

As one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure of the present composition of matter may be utilizedaccording to the present invention. Accordingly, the appended claim isintended to include within its scope such compositions.

REFERENCES Patents

U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,845

U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,187

U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,636

U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,778

U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,570

U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,515

Publications

Colbaugh, P. F. and M. C. Engelke. 2002. Zoysiagrass susceptibility toRhizoctonia solani Kuhn. (unpublished manuscript).

Morris, K. 1997. National zoysiagrass test—1996, Progress report 1997.Nat. Turfgrass Eval. Prog. U.S. Dep. Agric., Beltsville, Md. NTEP No.98-4: 87 p.

Morris, K. 1998. National zoysiagrass test—1996, Progress report 1998.Nat. Turfgrass Eval. Prog. U.S. Dep. Agric., Beltsville, Md. NTEP No.99-5: 82 p.

Morris, K. 1999. National zoysiagrass test—1996, Progress report 1999.Nat. Turfgrass Eval. Prog. U.S. Dep. Agric., Beltsville, Md. NTEP No.00-6: 82 p.

Morris, K. 2000. National zoysiagrass test—1996, Progress report 2000.Nat. Turfgrass Eval. Prog. U.S. Dep. Agric., Beltsville, Md. NTEP No.01-16: 92 p.

Morris, K. 2001. National zoysiagrass test—1996, Final Report 1997-2000.Nat. Turfgrass Eval. Prog. U.S. Dep. Agric., Beltsville, Md. NTEP No.01-15: 129 p.

Munsell Color Service. 1977. Munsell Color Charts for plant tissue.Macbeth Division of Kollmorgen Instruments Corporation, Baltimore Md.

Reinert, J. A. and M. C. Engelke. 2002. Resistance to fall armyworm,Spodoptera frugiperda, in zoysiagrass, Zoysia spp. Cultivars.(unpublished manuscript).

Reinert, J. A., M. C. Engelke, J. E. McCoy, D. L. Hays, D. Genovesi andJ. J. Heitholt. 2002a. Growth characteristics of nine Zoysia cultivars.(unpublished manuscript).

Reinert, J. A., M. C. Engelke, J. E. McCoy, D. L. Hays and J. J.Heitholt. 2002b. Resistance in zoysiagrass (Zoysia matrella) to thehunting billbug (Sphenophorous venatus vestitus). (unpublishedmanuscript).

White, R. H., M. C. Engelke, S. J. Morton and B. A. Ruemmele. 1993.Irrigation water requirement of zoysiagrass, Int. Turfgrass Soc. Res. J.7: 587-593.

Yamamoto, I. and M. C. Engelke. 1996. 1996 update of zoysiagrassperformance fewer than 90% shade conditions. TX Turfgrass Res.-1996.Consolidated Prog. Rep. TURF-96-11: 65-72.

What is claimed is:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of an asexuallyreproduced Zoysia matrella plant, as herein illustrated and described.